The Stages of Change

Here is a good article by Marc F. Kern about Prochaska's Stages of Change model for overcoming bad habits, addictions, and compulsive behaviors. The 12 Step program is the gold standard, but for some people (and some problems) a harm reduction approach rather than a total abstinence approach may be more effective. I'm not a specialist in chemical dependency or substance abuse, and won't get into that battle, but this model seems a common-sense way to navigate the almost inevitable mistakes and relapses involved in overcoming a long-standing habit.

The idea behind the SCM is that behavior change does not happen in one step. Rather, people tend to progress through different stages on their way to successful change. Also, each of us progresses through the stages at our own rate.
....The stages of change are:

• Precontemplation (Not yet acknowledging that there is a problem behavior that needs to be changed)

• Contemplation (Acknowledging that there is a problem but not yet ready or sure of wanting to make a change)

• Preparation/Determination (Getting ready to change)

• Action/Willpower (Changing behavior)

• Maintenance (Maintaining the behavior change) and

• Relapse (Returning to older behaviors and abandoning the new changes)

....Transcendence

Eventually, if you “maintain maintenance” long enough, you will reach a point where you will be able to work with your emotions and understand your own behavior and view it in a new light. This is the stage of “transcendence,” a transcendence to a new life. In this stage, not only is your bad habit no longer an integral part of your life but to return to it would seem atypical, abnormal, even weird to you.

When you reach this point in your process of change, you will know that you have transcended the old bad habits and that you are truly becoming a new “you", who no longer needs the old behaviors to sustain yourself.

I read once that to successfully kick an addiction the average person goes through rehab seven times. I don't know if that is true, but it speaks to the difficulty of change, and to the importance of self-awareness and honesty about where one is in the change process.